ESCONDIDO: Anti-graffiti program revived

Rewards as high as $1,000 for turning in taggers

ESCONDIDO -- City officials have revived a key weapon in their
campaign against graffiti: a program that gives up to $1,000 to
anyone who helps the city arrest and convict a local graffiti
tagger.

The city paid $14,500 to 16 people as part of a previous
conviction rewards program that ran from March 2006 to June 2007,
but city employees said that program was eliminated because
confusing awards criteria made it relatively ineffective.

The new version of the program provides rewards in proportion to
the amount of property damage caused by the convicted tagger.

The minimum reward is $100, and a tagger must be convicted of at
least $10,000 worth of damage for the reward to reach the $1,000
maximum. Only two taggers have been convicted of that much damage
in city history.

"This is much more equitable and it will hopefully be
revenue-neutral," City Councilman Sam Abed said Wednesday. "It was
important to reinstate our rewards program, because graffiti is the
top priority for our image, appearance and city pride."

Escondido has one of the most aggressive anti-graffiti programs
in the county, and it's one of the only local cities that offers
people financial rewards for graffiti convictions. In addition, the
city employees who report the most graffiti incidents each month
get $25 gift certificates to local restaurants.

City Councilman Ed Gallo said the city's efforts have been
successful.

"The last time I rode the Sprinter there was no graffiti in
Escondido, but you could see some in all the other cities," Gallo
said.

When the council approved the new rewards program earlier this
month, Councilwoman Marie Waldron said another benefit would be
lowered expectations. Under the old program, people who turned
taggers in expected the full $1,000 regardless of how much damage
that tagger had done, she said.

People who turn in a tagger convicted of doing less than $400
damage, which makes the crime a misdemeanor instead of a felony,
will receive $100. People who turn in a tagger convicted of damage
greater than $400 will receive $250 or 10 percent of the
court-ordered restitution, whichever is higher.

The new policy defines "convicted" as a court conviction, a plea
to a lesser offense or diversion to a community service program. If
a convicted tagger was turned in by more than one person, the
reward money will be dispersed among the people who turned the
tagger in.

Jon Brindle, the city's planning chief, said the new program is
based on a review of programs in more than a dozen other cities,
including San Diego, Riverside, San Francisco and Costa Mesa.
Rewards in those cities ranged from $50 to $2,000, he said.

But none of those made sense as a model because none of the
cities track graffiti incidents as closely as Escondido, said
Brindle. Aggressive tracking allows the city to base its rewards on
court-ordered restitution, he said.

Escondido officials said they avoided basing the rewards on how
much investigating the person did, even though some cities have
used that as a criterion. Escondido officials said they did not
want to encourage people to interact with graffiti suspects, who
can sometimes be dangerous.

Public participation will be crucial for the program to be
effective, said Councilman Dick Daniels, who urged city officials
to include information about the program in city newsletters and
other publications.

Abed said the main point of the city's anti-graffiti campaign is
making it clear to taggers that city has "zero tolerance."

He estimated the city has eliminated roughly 70 percent of its
graffiti problem since the crackdown began a few years ago.

"My goal is to truly eliminate graffiti," said Abed. "I don't
want to see it anywhere."